A 2×2 quasi-experimental design was used to investigate the impact of extrinsic incentives and reflection on students' calibration of exam performance. We further examined the relationships among attributional style, performance, and calibration judgments. Participants were 137 college students enrolled in an educational psychology course. Results differed as a function of exam performance. Higher-performing students were very accurate in their calibration and did not show significant improvements across a semester-length course. Attributional style did not significantly contribute to their calibration judgments. Lowerperforming students, however, were less accurate in their calibration, and students in the incentives condition showed significant increases in calibration. Beyond exam scores, attributional style constructs were significant predictors of calibration judgments for these students. The constructs targeting study and social variables accounted for most of the additional explained variance. The qualitative data also revealed differences by performance level in open-ended explanations for calibration judgments.
In a required research methods course in the education program at the University of Memphis, 59 graduate students in sections with practice exams or without practice exams predicted their exam performance before and after the multiple-choice midterm. Practice tests were associated with less accurate predictions both before and after midterm, perhaps because students expected the practice items would be identical to the items later appearing on the midterm. The students who took the practice test also achieved lower scores on the midterm. An analysis of the students' open-ended survey responses suggested that the students who participated in the traditional review session may have been more motivated to organize and understand the material rather than merely attempt to memorize responses to specific practice-test items. (27 re 0-Educutional Curriculum and Instruction, Durden College of Education, Old Dominion Universiry.In an introductory psychology course at a midwestem university, the questionnaire responses of 145 students about course performance and mastery goals and data retrieved from an online server were used to evaluate student use of online lecture notes. The 99 students who reported viewing the notes viewed them online 36 percent of the time, viewed the notes after they had printed them 54 percent of the time, and viewed the notes after they had been printed by others 10 percent of the time. Thirty-three percent of the students reported that they had printed notes for use during class presentations at least six times, 31 percent reported viewing the notes after class at least six times, and 27 percent reported using the notes as a substitute for class attendance at least six times. The students who used the online notes outperformed nonusers on all three course examinations, and the students who reported skipping class at least six times because of access to the notes had lower mastery goal scores. (20 ref)-Department of Psy-
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